Edward King

Edward King (1735?–1807) was an English barrister and writer. His best-known works were on castles and antiquities.

Life Born about 1735, was the only son of Edward King of Norwich. He studied for a time at Clare Hall, Cambridge, as a fellow-commoner, matriculating in 1752. On 18 September 1758 he was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in Michaelmas term 1763. A fortune bequeathed to him by his uncle, Mr. Brown, a wholesale linendraper of Exeter, gave him financial independence, but he regularly attended the Norfolk circuit for some years, and was appointed recorder of King's Lynn.

King was elected fellow of the Royal Society on 14 May 1767, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 3 May 1770. On the death of Jeremiah Milles in February 1784, King was elected his successor in the presidency of the Society of Antiquaries, though on the understanding that Lord De Ferrars would assume the office on the ensuing 23 April. King sought anyway to obtain re-election, by tactical means, but was defeated. His speech on quitting the chair of the Society of Antiquaries was printed, and he subsequently printed a letter in vindication of his conduct and reflecting upon the earl, and ceased to communicate with the Society.

Family As a circuit barrister King defended a lady from a faithless lover, and later married her.